A longtime member of the Bharatiya Janata Party, he has been elected to the Karnataka Legislative Assembly for four consecutive terms since 1994.
He won the May 2008 Karnataka state elections with the highest margin of over 53,000 votes against his nearest rival.
Earlier, he was the Minister for Sugar and Rural water supply in the BJP-Janata Dal (Secular) coalition government headed by H.D.Kumaraswamy.
Following the historic victory of the BJP in Karnataka, he was sworn-in as a Cabinet minister in the Yeddyurappa government on 30 May 2008 and was entrusted with the Agriculture portfolio.
He is credited with bringing the BJP to power in the Davanagere City Corporation for the first time in 2007 with an overwhelming majority.